Brock Beauchamp

Alex and Maddie dive into some surprising names (Mickey Gasper) that have been tearing it up in Grapefruit League action, and some not so surprising like Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela. They move on to their WBC predictions and discuss whether strong showings from Duran and Masataka Yoshida make either more tradable as the season gets underway. They both make their fifth starter predictions and give Payton Tolle and Connelly Early their flowers for strong starts to camp, before making strong cases for why the Red Sox shouldn't trade for Issac Paredes now that Caleb Durbin and Marcelo Mayer are settling into positions. Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-talk-sox-podcast/id1783204104 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3qPrPXEngu0CxgTmlf0ynm Listen on iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-talk-sox-podcast-244591331/ Listen on Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/4tmd121v Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@talksox View full article

They're very broad. I suspect that will tighten up over time as more countries grow interested. Teams like Great Britain have improved drastically over just a few WBCs.

The WBC is around the corner. Our friends at Fish On First put together this outstanding guide to the Classic. The ultimate fan guide to the World Baseball Classic - Miami Marlins Guides & Resources - Fish On First FISHONFIRST.COM Here is everything you need to know heading into the sixth edition of baseball's biggest international tournament.

I've forgotten to do this, but we should have a game thread up to talk about ST games, one per week.

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What grade do you give the Red Sox this offseason?

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To be fair to Durbin, he's good at bunting for hits. The Brewers sacrificed more than other teams, but it's not a central component to their identity. They'd "sacrifice" more in the sense that they'd try for a hit, with the fallback being a sacrifice if it didn't work.

Here are some helpful pieces from Brewer Fanatic on Durbin: https://brewerfanatic.com/news-rumors/milwaukee-brewers/how-can-caleb-durbin-improve-in-2026-r4127/ https://brewerfanatic.com/news-rumors/milwaukee-brewers/above-and-beyond-five-brewers-that-greatly-improved-in-2025-r3812/ https://brewerfanatic.com/news-rumors/milwaukee-brewers/caleb-durbin-is-an-enigma-r3615/

Welcome to Talk Sox! Sorry it took awhile to approve your post, I was travelling most of the day.

The 2026 MLB season is right around the corner, and we're looking to expand our video coverage. Have you ever considered being on-camera and talking about the Red Sox? If yes, we'd love to talk to you about it. Our videos are typically in a wide variety of styles: breaking news, analysis, and historical study. We're open to any and all ideas as long as they're centered around the Boston Red Sox. We're looking for serious baseball talk, so leave the hot takes at home. If you'd like to learn more about this cool little side gig, please email Brock Beauchamp at brock.beauchamp@talksox.com. Here is an example of a recent Red Sox video from us: View full rumor

Hi, I have deployed a more comprehensive code snippet for ad-free caretakers. This should work better and includes the ability to remove ads that display before videos. If there are any problems with your ad-free caretaker status, please reply here.

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To receive the fastest response, please create posts about technical issues in the link below. DiamondCentric is the new parent site of all our team sites, and all logins operate through DiamondCentric.net. Your login here is the same as it is there, and you automatically have an account. DiamondCentric Issues & Suggestions - DiamondCentric DIAMONDCENTRIC.NET Discussion relating to the dynamics of DiamondCentric and the site. Suggestions can be found & placed here.

This should be fixed now, please let me know if it isn't.

Welcome to Talk Sox! I don't think Bichette is getting $300m. He's young, which is great, but also *not* a shortstop. I think he's closer to Willy Adames than he is Cory Seager.

Exactly.

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Jeff Passan of ESPN just broke the news that the Red Sox are trading for veteran slugger and first baseman Willson Contreras. In return, a package led by prospect Hunter Dobbins is on its way to St Louis. Contreras was 33 years old in the 2025 season with the Cardinals. He joined St. Louis on a five-year, $87.5 million free-agent deal before the 2023 season, and the contract includes a 2028 club option. He is under contract through 2027, with the option to extend through 2028 if exercised. While he is no longer considered a catcher, Contreras has continued to provide above-average offense, making his transition to first base rather seamless. In 2024, he appeared in 84 games and logged 358 plate appearances, hitting 15 home runs with a .262/.380/.468 line, a .370 wOBA, and a 141 wRC+, along with a 12.6% BB% and 26.8% K% and a 2.7 FanGraphs WAR. In 2025, he played 135 games with 563 plate appearances, posting 20 home runs and a .257/.344/.447 line, a .344 wOBA, and a 124 wRC+, with a 7.8% BB% and 25.2% K%, finishing at 2.8 fWAR. According to Chris Cotillo of MassLive, St. Louis will send some money to Boston to cover some of the remaining $41.5 million on Contreras's contract. Jeff Passan has confirmed that the Cardinals will send $8 million to the Red Sox to offset Contreras's contract. The Red Sox are also sending RHP Yhoiker Fajardo and RHP Blake Aita to the Cardinals. Talk Sox had Fajardo ranked 17th on our latest top prospect rankings, and Aika did not crack our top 20, nor he did not break into MLB Pipeline's top 30. Right-handed Dobbins is 26 and debuted last April for Boston. In 2024, he threw 125 2/3 innings across Double-A and Triple-A with a 3.04 FIP. In 2025, he logged 61 MLB innings, 45 strikeouts, 17 walks. As 2025 was his rookie season, he is still two years from being arbitration-eligible. This alters the trajectory of the Red Sox offseason. They were once in deep on re-signing third baseman Alex Bregman, but now it's impossible to predict how much money they have remaining to spend in free agency, and what internal needs they are prioritizing. View full article

Oh hey, I only just noticed this thread. The can't post problem was escalating for about two days, and then the database server failed completely. Turns out, something was very wrong in the database server, and that was causing the issue.

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Jeff Passan has reported the Red Sox have swapped right-handed Luis Perales for the Nationals' left-handed pitching prospect Jake Bennett. Bennett, 25, was ranked No. 10 in Washington’s farm system by MLB.com. Drafted in the second round (45th overall) in 2022 out of Oklahoma, he missed the entire 2024 season because of Tommy John surgery. In 2025, he worked across Single-A Fredericksburg, High-A Wilmington, and Double-A Harrisburg, totaling 75 1/3 innings with 64 strikeouts and 19 walks. He posted a 2.27 ERA in 19 games, including 18 starts overall. He led the Arizona Fall League in strikeouts after the minor-league season was complete. Perales, 22, was ranked fifth by Talk Sox in Boston’s farm system. Signed out of Venezuela on July 2, 2019, he spent most of 2024 between High-A Greenville and Double-A Portland. In May 2024, he had 32 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings alone. Over 33 2/3 innings, he recorded 56 strikeouts and 12 walks. He reached Portland at age 21 and struck out 10 in 7 1/3 innings across two Double-A starts before being sidelined with an elbow injury. After missing most of 2025, he returned late in the season for three rehab outings, totaling 2 1/3 innings and four strikeouts. This is a very strange move, as you don't often see minor-league challenge trades. What do you think, Red Sox fans? View full article